September 13th "2024" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 257 of the year! Known as National Peanut Day, Roald Dahl Day. If you were born today you were likely conceived the week of December 21st in the previous year. Your star sign is Virgo and your birthstone is Sapphire.
1969 – The animated mystery-comedy “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” first aired and ran until 23rd December, 1978.
Todays birthdays
1944 – Peter Cetera (80), American rock bassist, lead singer, and songwriter (Chicago, 1967-85 – “If You Leave Me Now”; “Glory of Love”), born in Chicago, Illinois.
1965 – Zak Starkey (59), English rock drummer (Oasis; The Who), son of Beatle Ringo Starr, born in London.
1971 – Goran Ivanišević (53), Croatian former professional tennis player and current coach, born in Split, Croatia.
1983 – James Bourne (41), English singer and songwriter (Busted – “Year 3000”), born in Rochford, Essex.
1993 – Niall Horan (31), Irish singer (One Direction – “What Makes You Beautiful”), born in Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland.
Famous deaths
1996 – Tupac Shakur (b. 1971), American rapper, producer, and actor (“California Love”, “Changes”).
The day today
1940 – Buckingham Palace was hit by German bombs for the first time. This was not a deliberate target by the Luftwaffe, but rather a consequence of the broad, sweeping attacks carried out across London. The bombing occurred during the late morning, with five bombs dropped on the palace.
1955 – Velcro was patented by Swiss Engineer George de Mestral. He named his invention after the French words “velour” and “crochet,” which means “velvet hook.”
1970 – In Colombia, enroute to the World Cup finals in Mexico, the captain of the England football team, Bobby Moore was accused of stealing a diamond bracelet from a shop. After being kept under house arrest, he was released and all charges were dropped.
1985 – Super Mario Bros. is released in Japan for the NES, which starts the Super Mario series of platforming games.
2006 – The shirt worn by George Best when he scored six goals in Manchester Utd’s 8-2 FA Cup victory at Northampton in February 1970 sells at auction for £24,000.
Today in music
1986 – The Communards were at No.1 on the UK with the singles chart with ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’, which had been a hit for Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes in 1975 and later a hit for Thelma Houston.
1991 – Geffen Records threw a party to launch Nirvana’s single ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. The band ended up being thrown out of their own party after starting a food fight.
1996 – American rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur died after being shot six days earlier when he was driving through Las Vegas. 13 bullets were fired into his BMW. The incident was blamed on East and West Coast Gang wars. Shakur was a convicted sex offender, guilty of sexual abuse. After serving eleven months of his sentence he was released from prison on an appeal financed by Marion “Suge” Knight, the CEO of Death Row Records.
1997 – The Verve scored their first and only UK No.1 single with ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’, taken from their third album, Urban Hymns. The track became the band’s most successful single in the United Kingdom.
2009 – Vera Lynn went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘We’ll Meet Again: The Very Best of Vera Lynn’. At the age of 92 it made her the oldest living artist to achieve this feat with an album. The previous oldest living artist to top the charts was Bob Dylan, who at 67 saw his album ‘Together Through Life’ become number one in the UK earlier that year.
Today in history
122 AD – Construction of Hadrian’s Wall began. The 73 mile long wall stretches from Wallsend on the River Tyne to Bowness-on-Solway (Cumbria) and took 6 years to complete.
1501 – Michelangelo begins work on his statue of David. The work was commissioned by the Opera del Duomo for the Cathedral of Florence Michelangelo was only 26 at the time of the commission.
1759 – British troops, under the command of General Wolfe, secured Canada for the British Empire after defeating the French at the Battle of Quebec. Wolfe and the French commander were killed during the battle.
1845 – Chemist Michael Faraday discovered the Faraday Effect. The Faraday effect is when there is a reaction between both a magnetic field and light when inside a medium.
1902 – The first conviction in Britain using finger-prints as evidence was in the case against Harry Jackson by the Metropolitan Police at the Old Bailey. He had left his thumbprint in wet paint on a window sill and was tracked down through it. He was sentenced to seven years.